Leo stein and nicholas r



(No Model.)

L. STEIN 85 N. RAPPLBYEA.

BURIAL GASK'ET. No. 518,553. Patented Apr. 17, 1894.

: NyENTORS ATTORNEYS,

m: NATIONAL umoenAPmNa couPAm'.

WASHINGTON. o. c.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEO STEIN AND NICHOLAS RAPPLEYEA, OF ROCHESTER, ASSIGNORS TO THE NATIONAL CASKET COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BU RlAL-CASKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 518,553, dated April 17, 1894. Application filed J ne 17, 1891- Serial No. 396|556- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, LEO STEIN and NICHO- LAS RAPPLEYEA, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe, in the State of New York, have invented new and, useful Improvements in Burial-0askets, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying draw ings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

Our invention relates to an improved lid for 1o burial caskets, having an open head section closed and opened by a movable panel, and is particularly an improvement upon the device described and claimed in the Patent No. 276,312 of April 24, 1883, to J. H. Walker having for its object the production of a simple and effective construction of burial casket lid, wherein the movable head panel is guided downwardly to a plane just beneath that of the foot panel in order that the said movable panel may move in a straight line without the necessity of an up and down movement, which, as in the patent of J. H. Walker aforesaid, necessitates considerable space between the face glass and the movable panel; and to this end our invention consists, essentially, in a burial casket lid having an open head section surrounded by suitable molding form ing a frame for the face opening in said lid, guides formed in the foot section of the lid and extending in a straight upwardly inclining plane to the head section, a sliding glass movable in one of said guides, a sliding head panel mounted above the glass face and guided in another of said guides being adapted to pass beneath the foot panel, anda catch for holding the panels in position.

The invention furthermore consists in the detail construction and arrangement of the.

parts, all as hereinafter more particularly described and pointed out in the claim.

In describing our invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which, like letters indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the detached lid of a burial casket. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the head section of the casket lid, taken on line --.r-a3-, Fig. 1, illustrating the glass face plate and metallic head panel orslide as in their normal position. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of a portion of the casket lid, glass face plate, and metallic head panel or slide illustrating particularly the spring catch for holding the glass and slide in their normal position; and Fig.4 isa plan view of the preferable form of catch used to retain the glass face and sliding metallic panel in their normal position.

In the patent of J. H. Walker aforesaid, it will be noticed that the sliding panel is mov- 6o able up and down in order to force the same into and out of its normal position. Moreover, in order to allow this up and down movement, a spring support is necessitated, thereby causing considerable space to intervene between the glass and the said panel, which is a feature entirely overcome by our invention, in which the movable panel is guided in a straight and slightly inclined plane to a point beneath the fixed panel.

A- represents the burial casket lid of suitable form, size and construction adapted to be used upon any desirable burial casket. The burial casket lid is composed of suitable moldings forming the frame -a thereof, and is provided with an open head section -B-.- for the usual purpose of viewing the corpse, the.

Provided in the moldings forming the frame a-- are the grooves -band cinclined 8o slightly downward at their rear extremities and guided therein are the panel B and the glass face plate C. This panel -B'- may be composed of any snitable material, but in order to efiect the desired results, we prefer to construct the same of sheet metal, which, in addition to furnishing the requisite strength, is also very thin, thus further reducing the distance between said panel and the glass face --C. As preferably constructed, the grooves -band 'cincline slightly downwardly at the rear in order that when the head panel is closed, both the head and foot panels shall be in apparently the same plane. At the rearward edges of the g 5 metallic panel --B'- and the glass face plate --G- is the spring catch -D- hinged to the plate -E- secured to the cross bar -F of the casket lid.

As clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the catch I00 --D- is formed in the shape of a bell crank, one arm or plate el being provided with an upwardly turned bend or hook d'- which is substantially vertical for engaging the rearward extremity of the sliding metallic panel of the casket lid. The other arm d is extended upwardly in a mortise provided in the cross bar F, and secured thereto is the rod O'P- extending forwardly beyond the front edge of the cross bar F, and provided at its forward extremity with a button d. The substantially vertical hook d'- of the catch D is constantly engaged with the rearward edge of the metallic side by means of aspring -71rb81ring upon the arm or plate cl. By pressing in the button d the arm D of the catch is rocked backward, and the curved extremity dof the plate ,d is rocked upward, thus allowing the metallic slide to be readily pushed backward when the button '-h provided at the forward extremity thereof is engaged. When the metallic head panel 'B' is moved backward it is evident that the catch D=--, 01' more strictly speaking, the plate d' of said catch is held out of the path of the glass plate or panel C' in order that the panel C may be free to move. A slot d is provided in the curved extremity d, which, on the upward movement of the catch, registers with the rod d thus allowing the parts to be arranged closely together, and allowing but a slight cut out in the cross bar ---F for the purpose of operating the catch.

The sliding panel is formed of metal in order that it may be extremely thin,and thereby permitting the grooves -b'- and c to be very narrow and close together, thus preventing any deterioration in the appearance of the casket lid. The glass is also thin,and is provided at its forward extremity with a piece of ribbon or cord c' which, when engaged, serves to withdraw the same.

At the rearward extremity of the metallic slide is the flange or shoulder -g-, which, as the slide is made of thin material andthe grooves 'b' and c are close together, projects downward so as to abut against the rearward edge of the glass and form a connection between the panels B' and C. By this means, the catch -D- serves to pre-' vent both the slide and the glass'plate from being forced backward into the ,coffin'loy any jar, or without first operating the push but: ton. 'd'. Moreover when the metallic slide and the glass face are in their rearward posi-' .tion, by grasping the button b to force the metallic lid to its normal position, 1t will be seen that the hookgengaging the rearward edge of the glass face causes the same to be simultaneously drawn to its closed position with the metallic slide.- This casket lid affords features of great advantage to the trade in readily and quickly opening the:

casket for any desired purpose, and more over, the appearance thereof is not deteriorated, and-the cost is butslightly increased, thus affording an efficient and desirable device. I s It will be understood, that we have described the spring catch D- merely for the purpose of illustrating the operation of our invention, and that'other spring catches per- V forming the same funetionof yieldingly retaining the metallic slide in. its closed position might be used if desiredwithout departing from the spirit of our invention. It will also be understood that instead of being closed simultaneously, the panel B'- and glass face -O may be opened simultaneously or independently, and then closed 1 ndependently, but this would not be as desirable at construction.

e do not herein claim the combination with the glass face plate and head panel, of the connection between the two panels whereby both are closed simultaneously, nor the combination therewith of the catch for retaining said panels in their closedflpositlon,

since the same forms thesubject. matter ofa patent to us, No. 507,292, dated October 24, 1893.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is V In a casket, a sliding head panel made of sheet metal or other thin materialadapted to move in grooves inclining slightly downward under the foot panel, substantially in the manner as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto signed our names, in the presence of two attesting witnesses, at Rochester,in the county day of June, 1891.

LEO STEIN.

NICHOLAS BAPPLEYEA. I

of Monroe, in the State of New York, this 12th j 

